Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3)(86)

As soon as Tang turned on the car’s bright lights, Clay opened his door. In a split second, he jumped into the darkness and disappeared while Tang swiftly leaned over, fumbling for the door. His fingertips found a corner of the handle and pulled it shut, careful not to slam it. At an eighth of a mile, he turned the brights off and continued slowing behind the car in front of him.

Tang fought his instinct to look back for Clay in the mirror just as one of the powerful flashlights moved further out into the road and shone directly into his windshield. The beam remained on him as he coasted in, behind the others, where he counted five soldiers on the road. Two were holding flashlights with two more gripping QBZ-95 assault rifles tightly in their hands. The fifth and closest soldier, with a flashlight already trained on Tang, turned back down the road as another car appeared in the distance.

Tang could see the men were not in the mood for pleasantries.

“Where are you going?” a voice barked from behind a flashlight.

Tang feigned confusion and held up his hand to block the bright light. From what he could see, the man looked to be in his early twenties which probably meant he was inexperienced and hopefully unprepared for a driver taking the offensive.

“What is this? What’s happening?” He kept his voice loud in an effort to mask any noise from the trees.

The soldier’s pause behind the flashlight was brief. More brief than Tang had been hoping for.

The man staring down at him was not a rookie. Instead, he peered at Tang with a look of bemusement. Without a word, he checked the empty passenger’s seat.

“Where are you going?” he asked again, sternly.

Tang didn’t take his eyes off him, even while a second flashlight appeared and began searching the rest of his car.

“I’m going to visit a friend.” He remained calm, knowing that without the bag in the back seat their flashlights wouldn’t find anything…unless they opened the trunk.

“And where is your friend?”

Tang paused. His mind was racing, trying desperately to retrieve one of the towns Clay had mentioned.

“Dadonggou.”

The soldier’s mannerism did not change. He continued studying Tang and extended his hand. “Identification.”

“What is the meaning of this?” he tried again.

“It’s a security check.”

“There has never been a check here before.”

“How many times have you visited your friend?”

“Many times. And there is no trouble in this xian.”

“That’s right. And we are here to ensure it remains without trouble.” The soldier nodded, examining Tang’s ID. “You are a long way from Guangzhou.”





Clay slid to a stop at the bottom of a steep bank. Much steeper than he was expecting, causing him to lose control and slide into a small creek with a splash.

He quickly jumped to his feet and scrambled behind a nearby tree trunk. He waited for flashlights to appear over the edge of the road, but seeing none, Clay dropped his bag on the damp earth in front of him.

Unzipping the bag, he pulled out a set of night-vision goggles and slid them over his thick dark hair. Next he retrieved a black matted .40 caliber and pushed it into the waistband of his pants before swinging the bag onto his shoulders again.

He moved smoothly through the thick layer of needles and leaves, winding away from the road above him. Once beyond the glow of lights and the muffled voices, Clay broke into a sprint.





49





Qin peered out from the small window of the Harbin Z-6 helicopter into the near pitch-blackness below. There were now only occasional lights visible from the air, which gave the darkened interior of the cabin an eerie feeling. Only the thumping of the blades and the cockpit’s instruments were left to remind him that they were moving.

The last three hours had unleashed a frenzy of activity. Once M0ngol had zeroed in on the American’s location, time was of the essence. They had to stop him before he reached the hospital.

The mobilization took less than thirty minutes, but it still required time to travel the several hundred kilometers. Fortunately for Qin, there was a small team of Special Operations Forces on return from maneuvers at the base of China’s Guangxing Reservoir, close enough to intercept the American before he could.

Qin checked his watch impatiently. He hated having to call Xinzhen, but he had no other choice. He needed transportation immediately…and men. And being a member of the Politburo, Xinzhen had as much authority as anyone within China. A level of authority that had a fully equipped Z-6 helicopter landing in the parking lot of the MSS building a mere half hour later.

But now Xinzhen knew. Not everything, but enough to know what Wei had done and what was likely hidden in a small building in the middle of nowhere. Qin didn’t mention it was a hospital, nor that it was where he believed Wei’s daughter to be a patient. He’d been at the MSS long enough to learn that investigators never revealed everything, even to the Politburo.